Living the retirement dream

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Philip & Phyllis in Amsterdam

Jim’s younger brother Philip and his wife Phyllis live in the backwoods of western North Carolina. They love where they live and have a very good life surrounded by their three children and seven grandchildren. Phyllis had never been to Europe prior to visiting us in Seville in 2020. She and Philip just thoroughly embraced Spain and all it had to offer. As Philip says they were gobsmacked. Since then they have also visited us in London. Jim strongly feels his roots in the UK but Philip as an artist and an avid follower of the Dutch Masters feels that our Dutch name makes us Dutch. He has had a hankering to visit Amsterdam and the Netherlands for many years and they are so excited to join us here. They arrived on March 21 and they hit the ground running.

Jim’s brother Philip and his wife Phyllis arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed at our place around noon after an overnight flight from Asheville NC. Luckily, Sandy ran into them while she was walking back from the grocery store as their taxi dropped them off a few blocks from our apartment.
The first thing we did with them was a Canal Boat tour.
Canal houseboat costs can vary from $100,000 to several million depending on size, amenities and location. Today you cannot buy a new lot (docking location) but must rely on someone selling their lot, most are passed on to family members. Houses on the canal average $6,600 to $12,000 per square meter which is similar to Beacon Hill Real Estate in Boston.
This is the backside of the Amsterdam Centraal Train Station.
A video of us cruising past our home on the Oudeschans Canal.
That’s us on the top floor with the two bay windows.
From the water you can really see how these homes along the canal are leaning. Similar to where we lived in Beacon Hill Boston, the foundations of the attached homes or row houses are on wooden pilings in the water but in Amsterdam the wooden pilings are on soft marshy ground which is not the most stable foundation and the pilings over time sink or shift causing buildings to bow or shift.
We stopped at our favorite nearby coffee house De Sluyswacht for beers and French fries which Amsterdam is famous for.
Next stop was a tour of The Rembrandt House which is in our neighborhood.
Looking down on our favorite cafe from Rembrandt’s house.
Steens on Steen Bridge
We took them to the Red Light District (no photos allowed) then stopped in at an Irish Pub to kill time before our dinner reservation.
For their first meal in Amsterdam we took them to Restaurant Asmara which is an Eritrean restaurant. Their food is very similar to Ethiopian food which we all have learned to love as Philip and Jim were both born in Ethiopia.
This food is so flavorful, aromatic and mildly spicy, not to mention colorful.
On the way to the Rijksmuseum of course we had to take this photo op.
Rubber Ducky store
This is the Rijksmuseum which is where we joined Philip and Phyllis for The Frans Hals special exhibit. Below is info about Frans Hals and following are his art works with the museum descriptions after each painting.
The following Paintings and information deal with Jan Steen who Philip feels to be a direct descendent of. Jim on the other hand feels that his genetics are more connected to the UK. Here they are pictured by a Jan Steen painting. The following is a description and each portrait displayed below has the museum information after it.
This is Rembrandts famous Night Watch Painting. The Night Watch was not the original title. Originally the painting had no title until one century later when the painting had darkened considerably through many layers of dirt given the appearance that the event of the Civic Gaurdsmen took place at night.
Our last meal together with Bill and Katiti was a roasted chicken prepared by super chef Katiti.
On Philip and Phyllis’s second night they went to a concert of John Mayer which was held on the same night next to the venue of the big Soccer Match between Scotland and Holland. They said the public transport was crowded to the max but they loved the experience and bravely ventured out without us and safely made it there and back. We went to bed with the hopes to see them in the morning.
Katiti and Bill left us March 23. It was great that they got to overlap for a few days with Philip and Phyllis as we love sharing our many dear friends with our family and other friends. We all coexisted nicely together for three days and the availability of one toilet room and one shower room did not create any problems amongst the six of us.

Living our retirement dream

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3 responses to “Philip & Phyllis in Amsterdam”

  1. Anette Johnson Avatar
    Anette Johnson

    The art is unsurpassed. This looks like one of your top destinations and time of year! Lucky you❤️

    Reply
  2. Dawn Luck Avatar
    Dawn Luck

    I enjoyed your stories and photos! I guess I never thought about the foundations decaying. The photo of the leaning buildings will now give me nightmares. Enjoy your travels!

    Reply
  3. Mark Krahling Avatar
    Mark Krahling

    It’s always nice to see where your next temporary home will be. I’m off to the Camino (where I met the two of you) again in October.

    Reply

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